LORI STONECIPHER Obituary

LORI STONECIPHER
March 14, 1959 - May 23, 2025
Lori Beth Stonecipher, age 66, of Eldorado at Santa Fe, New Mexico, passed away unexpectedly on May 23, 2025, while on vacation in Spain.
Born on March 14, 1959, in Fort Worth, Texas, Lori was the daughter of Edward and Nina Hajek. She grew up in the Fort Worth area, getting her first exposure to the Land of Enchantment through holiday trips with her family and summer camp stays at Glorieta.
As a small child, she was self-conscious about having to wear high, stiff, "clunky" white leather corrective shoes to fix the alignment of her feet, but she persevered with them. By the time she was graduating from high school, she was one of eight members of the girls' team that won the exceptionally competitive all-state Texas High School Gymnastics Championship. It was perhaps the first-though hardly the last-evidence she showed of a remarkable but very quiet tenacity.
After high school, Lori attended Austin College, a historic small liberal arts school in Sherman, Texas, where she thrived in an atmosphere she found both nurturing and challenging. Perhaps the most lasting impact of those college years turned out to be the unbreakable bond of friendship she shared with a half dozen or so of her Kappa Gamma Chi sorority sisters-friendships that outlasted the goofy adventures and misadventures of young adulthood and became the source of permanent support, love, and fun for the rest of her life. Lori graduated from Austin College in 1981 with a degree in history and no particularly clear idea of what to do next.
Trying to gain what she later called "traction" after college took longer than she wanted. In that process, she found out she wasn't really meant to be an insurance company claims rep, or an art gallery associate, or copy editor for a couple of dog magazines. Unwilling to stay stuck where she didn't belong, she pushed on to find work that truly fit her.
She found that fit as an events manager-first for a department store chain, then at Trinity University in San Antonio, then at the Kansas City Art Institute, and finally as Director of Events for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.
It was while working at Trinity University that Lori met her future husband, Charles. They began dating shortly before he entered the U.S. Foreign Service and disappeared over the horizon. When he eventually returned to Washington, DC, in 1994 for a domestic assignment, the still-smitten Charles and the quietly tenacious Lori were married and began a new series of adventures together.
Lori had to give up her chosen career field when it was time to move overseas, but she was excited by each new posting and sought out interesting U.S. government work wherever she lived. First was four years in Washington, DC, where she hit her stride at the Smithsonian Institution; followed by assignments to Albania, from which she was officially "evacuated" before even arriving; a move to next-door Macedonia just in time for the Kosovo crisis and the overrunning of the American Embassy by rioters (while Lori took refuge in the basement communications vault), and where she worked in the Diplomatic Security office.
Then came four very happy years in Geneva, Switzerland, where she helped manage the constant flow of official visitors and U.S. delegations; three years in Botswana, where she traveled the country managing community development grants; and finally, back to Washington, where she worked at the Foreign Service Institute organizing the training of new diplomatic officers-before she and Charles both retired.
In retirement, Lori fulfilled her long-held dream of living in Santa Fe. Yoga and book group friends quickly filled her new social world. Santa Fe's charms never dimmed for her, and the neighbors, vistas, and open skies of Eldorado were daily pleasures. Also daily, Lori pursued her study of the French language with her typical quiet determination. Classes at Alliance Française in Albuquerque and online tutorials led to the decision to spend a year in Paris to really get into the language and to experience that great city through all its seasons.
Once back home in Santa Fe, she reconnected with friends and neighbors and found an Eldorado French conversation group of like-minded souls. When she passed away in Spain, she and Charles were within days of being back in Paris for a visit.
A very small list of things that brought Lori joy would have to include her husband and friends, dogs (and one special cat), travel, restaurants, gardening, hiking, beaches, laughing, jazz, shoes, a good book, and afternoon aperitifs somewhere with a view.
She is survived by her husband of thirty-one years, Charles Stonecipher, and by much-loved nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, and in-laws. In her private way, Lori was profoundly grateful for the privilege of life, and she was intent on making this one as good as she knew it could be. She did indeed find her traction.
Inurnment at the Santa Fe National Cemetery will be arranged and announced later this year.